Barnes Files "Let "Em Die" Baby RICO Suit on JPM Chase for Mortgage Fraud

[vets74]

West Palm Beach is the legal battleground for this one. The phrase "Baby RICO" refers to the Florida version of the Federal RICO statute. In the filing, Jeff Barnes is on fire !

“CHASE HOME FINANCE LLC (hereafter “CHF”) is and was at all times material hereto a foreign (non-Florida incorporated) corporation which engaged in a regular and systematic course of conduct in Florida including Palm Beach County, Florida and the other jurisdictions identified herein, which conduct included but was and is not limited to false claims of the acquisition of mortgage loans relating to real property; the institution of fraudulent threats of foreclosure and fraudulent foreclosure proceedings based on false and fraudulent misrepresentations; the fraudulent collection of monies allegedly owed on secured promissory notes as to mortgage loans through false and fraudulent misrepresentations; and the perpetration of frauds upon the Courts of the United States through false and fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the filing of foreclosure actions and the prosecution of non-judicial foreclosure actions, which conduct, in the aggregate and in the manner executed, constituted a pattern of criminal activity.”

-- the filing

and from Barnes's web site :::

The Asset Purchase Agreement between the FIDC and Chase is over 70
pages long, yet the purchase by Chase of the certain assets from the
FDIC as Recceiver for WaMu coincidentially took place on exactly the
same day that WaMu failed and was taken over by the FDIC.

The Complaint details the common wrongful actions of JPM and CHF
utilized in both judicial and non-judicial foreclosures instituted
across the United States, characterizing the conduct as a
“nationalized fraud”.

The Plaintiffs have also filed a Request for Production of Documents
which is being served on JPM and CHF which requests the production of
fifty-four (54) separate categories of documents relating to the
Plaintiffs’ mortgage loans. This same discovery has previously been
compelled, by Court Order, to be produced by foreclosing parties in
numerous other cases throughout the United States where Mr. Barnes and
his local counsel have propounded this discovery in connection with
individual foreclosure challenges.

The Complaint is not a class action and is not a “mass joinder” case.
It is a multi-Plaintiff action, which is not subject to the rigors of
class actions such as certification of the class, and was never, at
any time, advertised or intended to be a “mass joinder” case such as
those the subject of the recent “K2″ debacle. ...

Gotta love this guy....

Florida's Civil Remedies for Criminal Practices Act - the civil counterpoint to Florida's criminal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act - is used in instances where the defendant or defendants show a pattern of misconduct.

Barnes claims in the suit that Chase committed "nationalized fraud" by using false and fraudulent documents to foreclose residences. JPMC took over Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu) in 2008 and apparently solved its problems with missing documents by initiating a campaign of forgery and back-dating.

From the Palm Beach Post:

Barnes said he's received hundreds of inquiries about the suit after the Aug. 25 filing and may add plaintiffs. He is not, however, advertising for plaintiffs or sending out mailers to potential clients about the lawsuit - a practice that got another California attorney in trouble last month.

Although Barnes wouldn't disclose how much it costs to join the lawsuit, he did say he is not operating on a contingency payment.

"The case is in its early stages, and we anticipate it will grow," he said. "We are receiving an enormous amount of information about the conduct of J.P. Morgan Chase nationally. It's been overwhelming." The suit asks for Chase to be barred from processing foreclosures until the case ends. It also requests a jury trial.

-- story from 13 September 2011

You betcha... "hundreds of inquiries." How's odds on hundreds of thousands ???

The "balloon" clauses in the original WaMu mortgages are more often fraudulent than not. The "balloons" fail common law fraud and hidden interest standards. Reversion to pre-balloon interest rates is the minimum relief.

Yaaaa-hooooooooo !!

[vets74]

1. Oops... Palm Beach Post link to article

HERE